Developing Capacities for Effective Leadership for Good Governance, Economic Growth, and Prosperity

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• Developing Capacities for Effective Leadership
  for Good Governance, Economic Growth, and
  Prosperity in Post Conflict Countries An African
  Perspective
• Presentation made during the Second Annual Philip
  J. Rutledge Seminar on Governance in Africa on
  the theme of Leadership and Governance in
  Africa Developing High Quality Public
  Administrators for Economic Growth and
  Prosperity at the National Academy of Public
  Administration. 23rd September 2008
• By Dr. John-Mary Kauzya
• Chief of Governance and Public Administration
  Branch
• Division for Public Administration and
  Development Management
• Department of Economic and Social Affairs
• United Nations
• New York Kauzya_at_un.org www.unpan.org

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Introduction

• Governance Before the debate on the concept,
  there was the word
• Critical functions of political leadership in a
  post-conflict situation
• Restoring trust in government,
• Ensuring a shared understanding of the reality,
  hard tasks and the challenges confronting the
  nation and the hardship that must be faced in
  order for these challenges to be overcome
• Mobilizing peoples voice and mind to design and
  agree a national vision and strategy that
  provides a guiding framework and rationale for
  reconstructing capacities for public
  administration
• Sustaining development-oriented leadership and
  nurturing future leaders for the country
• Providing a framework for managing diversity and
  inclusiveness in public administration
• Resource mobilization for start up, survival, and
  sustainability of public administration
  reconstruction including ensuring external help
  while promoting self-reliance

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1 Restoring Trust

• One of the initial roles of political leadership
  in reconstructing capacities for public
  administration is to cultivate and sustain trust.
  
• Donors and post-conflict countries need to agree
  on aid management and coordination mechanisms
  that do not project incapability (which erodes
  trust) on the part of the political leadership of
  the recipient country

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2 Assessing the reality of the situation
Ensure a shared understanding of the reality,
hard tasks and the challenges confronting the
nation and the hardship that must be faced in
order for these challenges to be overcome

• Mobilize people to be hopeful but not blindly and
  motivate them to trust in their potential rather
  than in some external or divine intervention for
  their development.
• When a country has stabilized and is seeking to
  chart out its new socio-politico-economic
  strategic path, it is best that its leadership be
  given sufficient space to lead the people through
  self examination processes to ensure a clear
  understanding of the challenges that face them.

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3 Mobilize peoples voice and mind to design and
agree a national vision and strategy that
provides a guiding framework and rationale for
reconstructing capacities for public
administration

• The hard solutions of the problems of the future
  cannot be found in the simple tasks of yesterday.
  Determining and agreeing a national vision and
  strategy that provides an appropriate answer to
  the question of the public administration the
  country needs for the future must be based on a
  hard, harsh, and brutal diagnostic analysis of
  the reality of the situation, not only as it
  presents itself currently, but also as it
  presented itself in the past and as it will
  present itself in the future.

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4 Preparing for leadership relay Sustain
development-oriented leadership and nurture
future leaders for the country

• Developing leaders that will ensure that the
  country will remain on the path of public
  administration capacity development and indeed
  play a leading role in the world is an important
  role for political leaders in a post conflict
  country.

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5 Provide framework for managing diversity and
inclusiveness in public administration

• One of the causes of violent conflict in many
  countries is leadership that excludes certain
  members of the population from participating in
  the development process at production level as
  well as at levels of consumption and livelihood.
• Managing diversity in the Public Service is
  critical in post conflict situations. If not well
  handled, it will disrupt any efforts in
  reconstructing capacities for Public service.
  Political leadership needs to take an integrative
  and strategic stand on this issue providing a
  political framework as well as a strategic
  objective of tapping and utilising the full
  potential and contribution of all segments of the
  population for development.

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6 External help within self-reliance Resource
mobilization for start up, survival, and
sustainability of public service reconstruction

• External aid may be critical for start-up of
  programs and projects for reconstructing
  capacities for public administration. It may be
  required for survival of such programs and
  projects in the short and medium term. But for
  sustainability in reconstructing public
  administration capacity, there must be a strong
  internal will for self-reliance and effective
  programs and projects for mobilizing internal
  capacity to sustain the provision of public
  service. The beginning point is to have a
  political leadership that puts this challenge to
  the public all the time to cultivate the
  necessary internal commitment to self
  determination

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Political leadership capacities required in a
post conflict situation

• Integrative Leadership
• Entrepreneurial leadership
• Administrative Leadership
• Operative leadership

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Two Historical Faults that Need to be Corrected
in the Process of Public Service Reform and
Modernization

• 1 Neglecting issues related to the undeveloped
  professional status of Human Resource managers in
  the Public Sector and relegating the Human
  resource managers to non core and non strategic
  functions
• 2 Strengthening the institutions responsible for
  building and sustaining Public administration
  capacities (Institutes of Public Administration
  (IPAs), Management Development Institutes (MDIs),
  and relevant University Faculties should have
  been given adequate attention

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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR LEADERSHIP CAPACITY
DEVELOPMENT

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Values Character Attitude
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Target and strategic objectives
KNOWLEDGE Enhance knowledge of current and
future leaders in the public sector in the
various aspects of leadership, governance, and
development. AWARENESS Enhance the awareness of
the critical role leadership, governance and
all their tenets play in the development
process SKILLS Strengthen leadership skills
for the current and future leadership of the
continent at local, national, and regional
levels NETWORKS Strengthen networks of
individuals and institutions that contribute
to the successful implementation of leadership
capacity development programs CHARACTER,
ATTITUDE, VALUES Shape leadership character,
attitude, and values right throughout the
entire schooling system INSTITUTIONS
SYSTEMS Strengthen capacity of management
development institutions, Universities and
other institutions identified as critical in
leadership capacity development.

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